Hamtifa is the intersection of amateur radio and anti-fascism

The first time I marched anywhere other than a Pride parade was the 2017 Womens’ March in Cincinnati. While we were there, our mobile phones quit working and I became curious about offgrid communications for emergencies. Fastforward to COVID, and I took up amateur radio as my COVID hobby. Studying for my license helped me dust off some of my old Radio Telephone Operator skills, but it also showed me what a boomer hobby Amateur Radio was. On a local net during the summer of the COVID lockdowns I listened to some old guy talking about how his wife had COVID and he discovered that the virus was actually real. I realized that people like me were a minority in the hobby.

I am hoping to use this space to accomplish a few things

  1. Use my military training to support the fight against fascism - I was stationed in Germany in the 90’s. I watched Schindler’s List on a US Army base in Rheinland-Pfalz. After that, I understood why I was there. After visiting a former concentration camp in Bavaria, I understood that fascism leads to genocide. When I was on active duty I trained as a combat lifesaver, and when I joined the National Guard I reclassified into communications. These are skills I can bring to the revolution. Watching the violence unfold during the last Trump administration, I realized that the even though I am too old and fat for combat, the fight is far from over.

  2. Introducing the Amateur Radio community to the protest space - Ham radio dudes talk a lot about service to their communities in the form of public safety and emergency preparedness. It’s a noble aspect of the hobby. It is my assertion that supporting the constitutional rights to free speech and peaceful assembly are also civic duties. Street protests are a chaotic and mobile; they’re the perfect place to practice emergency communications. No, you can’t use amateur radio to support crimes (like January 6th) but helping people stay safe on the streets is not a crime. I think the hobby needs more diversity, and the protest space provides plenty of diversity.

  3. Introducing the protest space to the Amateur Radio hobby - It’s practically a law that you can’t talk politics on the air, but there are plenty of signs that amateur radio is a conservative hobby. A lot of hams (not all) are preppers. A lot of preppers (not all) are white supremacists. I don’t like associating with white supremacists, at all. You know who is good at running off white supremacists? Street protesters. Also, protest marshalls and medics rely on handheld radios to keep marches safe. In my experience most of them use FRS radios that suck. There are some operational security issues pertaining to radio that are unique to protests. I think that some knowledge about radio communications and the application of decent radio procedure would benefit nonviolent direct action on the streets. Protests don’t often get messy, but when they do good coms can help tremendously.

  4. Use my white privilege to be an ally - The Black Lives Matter protests taught me that my identity as a middle-aged white guy affords me a lot of advantages, particularly when interacting with the police. That privilege is power, and I need to use that power to protect others. That means putting my body and my voice between those with less privelege and those who would use their privelege to do harm.

  5. Carrying my share of the emotional labor of white/male fragility - As I learn about the intersecionality, I understand how difficult it is to educate people about bigotry while you the educator is actively suffering from that bigotry. It is my responsibility to learn as much as I can, and to share my knowledge about that struggle with people that don’t understand it. I think a lot of people are justifiably exhausted, and I think I can shoulder some of that burden. So if you are a middle aged white guy that is trying to understand why everyone is mad at you, there will be content here for you as well.

  6. Get the politics off of my other blogs - Writing is a way of processing my feelings, and the last 12 or so years has had a lot to do with those feelings. When I want to write about my other hobbies, travels, and experiences, my anarco-socialism always seems to creep in. I am hoping to use this space as an outlet for my leftist politics in order to keep my other writing more focused.

That is the plan. Let’s see if I can stick with it.